I'm sharing a new KFm winged aircraft I designed that we call the Regal. The idea for this plane started about a week ago when my son requested that I design a new sport plane for him that would be a blast to fly. We spent some time discussing what he wanted his new plane to be abled to do, and we settled on a full fuselage, mid wing design with a KFm airfoil. The wingspan was 40", with a straight leading edge and a tapered trailing edge. The KFm step was a constant 5" back from the leading edge. That put the step at 40% at the fuselage, and 50% at the wingtip. He wanted the plane to be able to perform some 3D maneuvers, so the control surfaces and fuselage were created with that in mind. I spent last week drawing the plans up, so that when he came home from college Friday evening, everything would be ready to go. He started working on the plane Saturday morning, and finished it around 3:30 pm Sunday afternoon (7/8/07). Even though it was a bit breezy, we took plane out back for its maiden flight anyway. It flew very well. He was pleased to see how well mannered the plane performed very slow flight. It also hovered quite easily and rolls were crisp, but not excessively fast. Wind penetration was excellent.

This thing flies amazingly well! The slow flight characteristics are very nice, it flies VERY slow and the wing does not appear to tip stall at very slow speeds. When I pulled power off and held full up elevator, it maintained a steep glide with a slightly nose-up attitude, and again, the ailerons had good authority throughout. Knife edge flight was easy and there was little coupling. All that was required was a little down elevator to fly knife edge straight. She hovers easily, but could use a little more elevator authority to make it easier. Often I would have to add power to make the elevator more effective. The ailerons seemed to have more authority than normal in the hover, but I'll have to fly it more to be sure. Entering flat spins (both normal and inverted) was very easy, and the aircraft had exceptional aileron control (especially inverted) and was very nice throughout. Also, for flat spins, the forgiving nature of this design makes "bailing out" of these maneuvers very easy. Likewise, maneuvers like waterfalls and so on are quite stable. The rudder on this plane allows me to "whip" the tail around and perform many of the other more radical things, but this also flies much more like a "real" plane. The KFm wing seems to let this plane "groove" much more like some of the larger nitro birds I've flown (like the Kaos), while simultaneously giving me the best of the foamies (namely amazing slow flight and ease of use). The most striking thing for me is how quickly this plane can go from fast "grooving" flight to very stable slow flight. Obviously these are just my first impressions, but as I spend more time flying I'll be sure to update you on its performance.

Rich, You've done a beautiful job with the Regal. Great to see you using the KFm wing on a more aerobatic plane. What motor/prop/battery are you using? Hope you'll keep us posted as you continue to test your new design.

Guys, you can see more of Rich's work and his use of the KFm wing on the Blu-Baby thread.

Rich, she's a thing of beauty. Congratulations on the successful maiden of this new plane. The KFm airfoil has a terrific performance envelope and it's nice to see it becoming the foil of preference for some new designs. Thanks for spreading the word.

Rich, You've done a beautiful job with the Regal. Great to see you using the KFm wing on a more aerobatic plane. What motor/prop/battery are you using? Hope you'll keep us posted as you continue to test your new design.

Guys, you can see more of Rich's work and his use of the KFm wing on the Blu-Baby thread.

Thanks Pat.

30V2 posted the powertrain specs.

Last edited by Kaos2; Jul 12, 2007 at 09:45 AM.
Reason: Duplicate info. (posting at the same time)

Rich, You've done a beautiful job with the Regal. Great to see you using the KFm wing on a more aerobatic plane. What motor/prop/battery are you using? Hope you'll keep us posted as you continue to test your new design.

Guys, you can see more of Rich's work and his use of the KFm wing on the Blu-Baby thread.

FirstShirt, we are using a 2410-09Y Outrunner
11.1 v 1320 mAh Li-Po
11 X 4.7 eflight prop
Step is made with a 1/8" X 3/8" Spruce spar
With the layer of foam on top of the spar, the step is 8.38%
AUW ready to fly, 16.8 oz.

As you can see, 30V2 is my son's username. He'll be popping in with the future flight reports and any new pictures (it's actually his plane ).

The plans posted have included an update to the elevator. I extended the rear of the elevator by 1/2" just to give it a bit more authority in the hover.

I'm sure there are at least a couple of people who woiuld be interested in a video of this plane. Am I right? As soon as my son, the plane , and I get together again, and the weather permits, I plan to shoot some video of this bird in action. You can be sure that it'll be posted here.

I'm sure there are at least a couple of people who woiuld be interested in a video of this plane. Am I right? As soon as my son, the plane , and I get together again, and the weather permits, I plan to shoot some video of this bird in action. You can be sure that it'll be posted here.

Thanks for the plans and specs. Printing plans now. I was looking to try the KF airfoil. Also wanted a built up fuse. Your's fits the bill. Looking forward to it.

I'll let you know.

Horton

Horton, please be sure that you use the version of the plans currently posted. There have been a few revisions that I've made to polish them up for others to use, as well as adding a little size to the elevators to facilitate even easier hovering. Enjoy!

I have flown the Regal a couple times now since my last post and I am still very happy with how well this plane flies and with how good it looks in the air. The KFm wing is fabulous for sport/3D flying! Because it is very forgiving at slow speeds it is a blast to fly low and slow both upright and inverted. Also, this plane will snap roll, which is something some of my other foamies were incapable of doing.

Normally I have found that half throttle gives me a good speed for just flying around, and it hovers around 3/4 stick. (Of course there is unlimited vertical performance at full throttle ) It has been a lot of fun gettting more familiar with this great flying plane!